Midwives’ knowledge of pre-eclampsia management: A scoping review

Background: Pre-eclampsia is a multi-organ disease affecting pregnant women from the second trimester onwards resulting in multiple adverse outcomes. Sub-optimal treatment of pre-eclampsia is linked with unfavorable outcomes. It is critical for midwives as primary providers to be competent in the diagnosis and management of pre-eclampsia especially in low-and middle-income countries.

Aim: To identify what midwives’ around the world know about pre-eclampsia management.

Methods: A scoping review using the JBI three-step search strategy was used to identify relevant research articles and grey literature on the subject. Database searches in PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane Databases, Web of Science, and Scopus yielded twenty papers in addition to nine guidelines from Google Scholar. The findings were synthesised using a metasynthesis approach and presented as themes.

Findings: Four themes were identified from the extracted data: Foundational knowledge of pre-eclampsia; Knowledge and management of a woman with pre-eclampsia according to guidelines; Knowledge of being prepared for emergency procedures and management of emergencies; Factors influencing knowledge. The first three themes addressed diagnosis and management whilst the last theme described how contextual factors led to either increased or decreased knowledge of pre-eclampsia.

Conclusion: Worldwide, practicing midwives lack knowledge on several aspects of pre-eclampsia diagnosis and care. Policies on in-service training should be oriented to include innovative non-traditional methods that have the potential to increase midwives’ knowledge.